Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, Jan. 18, 2010 is celebrated in remembrance of a man that lead a nation toward civil rights. What started out as being mainly for the negros, turned into a civil rights movement for all citizens of the U.S. no matter their race or religion.

"In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On this day, actually every day, we should all take time to remember that we are one people and one nation. There should be 'equal' rights for all and never a select few while others suffer at the hands of tyranny. This is not a socialistic thought to treat all as we ourselves wish to be treated. Get active, get involved, raise your voices to those in power and in positions that oppress.

thank you Dr. Martin Luther King, for giving me the opportunity to speak out against the evil tyranny that is the new GM. You give me inspiration, and help me to succeed in what I am doing right now: helping to save Pontiac. And although you were shot down by someone who opposed you, you dedicated your life to getting equal rights for everyone in the United States of America. That is why I have dedicated my life as a human being to saving Pontiac and giving the people what they want, and giving a voice to those who refuse to go down. For standing united as a country, we can do anything. God Bless America.

Thank you Mr. King. For that everyday when I go to school I know that I am like everyone else. For that the day when my child goes to school it'll be the same thanks to you. In many ways you rebelled against people who thought of us with different color skin were different. And gave us the oportunity to live among each other and work with each other. Everyday of our lives. I thank you so much for not have given up even if it was too hard. Or too long. You still fought and fought hard. Thank you Mr. King. Because no one can do the thing you did for us. Just the way you did it.